Kirkkitsch’s Blog

D9 -or- OU812

I‘d been hearing A LOT of talk about the movie District 9, so it was no surprise when P asked if we could go see it. It seems like everyone I’d heard talking about were saying good things. This wasn’t really something that encouraged or discouraged me to see it since I pretty much usually keep on top of movies that I have interest in.

P loves the alien-related genre and I do as well, but not to the extent that he does. My interest is a little more on the sci-fi level, while his lies more in the non-fiction arena. Being as it was his birthday, I left the movie choice up to him. I was a blank canvas, though I was kinda skeptical going in simply because I’d heard through the grapevine that the film (in an attempt to be ‘deep’ or have a ‘message’ I’m assuming) paralleled the ever-topical subject of racial (or as it turns out, subspecies) discrimination.

First off, having not done much research on the film, only having seen the promotional posters, I made the assumption that the movie was animated. I was a little surprised to see that the film was live action (married with CGI, natch), in a documentary-style format. Not a problem, just surprise.

Secondly, a friend of mine who had seen the film and didn’t care for it, mentioned that it was a lot bloodier than she’s anticipated. I took that with a grain of salt since my tastes lean towards the slasher movie genre, HOWEVER, what I didn’t know at the time was that it was directed by Peter Jackson. That explained a lot. I am not a Peter Jackson fan, though I did like the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

It’ll be easier for me to do a Pros & Cons list than to get specific, since there’s not a lot to get specific about, it’s a pretty premise:

*The following comments may contain spoilers, so keep that in mind if you have not seen the movie and intend to do so:

Pros
• The movie is well acted and well executed. Great pacing that holds your interest and keeps you guessing.
• It’s not your typical alien vs humanity film. A different approach. I dunno if ‘fresh’ would be the word, but it’s definitely not a rehash of anything recently (in regards to aliens).
• I found the promotional material very clever and imaginative.
• The movie was preceded by some great-looking trailers (Sorority Row, Shutter Island, Legion)

Cons
• While I don’t feel like the gore factor was necessarily excessive, it turned me off. Not so much the shootings, but more of the slow, but graphically-detailed “transformation” sequences (re: the lead character gets contaminated with a foreign agent and begins to mutate into one of the aliens). Just didn’t dig it.
• While I felt like the film was definitely different than the usual shoot ‘em up alien fodder, I didn’tt find the parallel between Illegal Aliens vs. Aliens (from outer space) as esoteric as I’m sure the director thought he was. I’ll put it this way: It didn’t make me “rethink” my feelings on immigration.

And that’s all I really have to say about the movie. Like I’ve been telling people: I didn’t love it; I didn’t hate it. I definitely wouldn’t be interested in owning it or watching it or for an encore performance. It’s definitely a one-time viewing-type movie. But then what do I know? Lots of people are loving it. Maybe that’s reason enough for me not to. LOL!

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